Meeting Teddy
by saxgirl42
Summary: SPOILERS FOR DEATHLY HALLOWS. Harry meets someone new... ONESHOT FLUFF.


**SPOILERS GALORE FOR "DEATHLY HALLOWS." DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE BOOK.**

**_Author's Note:_** So I needed to write some fluff after J.K. Rowling did the _one_ thing I really didn't want her to do. I'll give you a hint:

Me: NUUUUUUUUU!!!! -sobs uncontrollably and clings to Lupin-

Lupin: O o'

Tonks: Hey! That's _my_ husband!

Me: -sniffle- ... BWAAAAAAH!!!! -clings to Tonks, too-

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, SHE KILLED THE LUPINS. And I am crazy with grief. But other than that, the book was excellent, and I already have some little story ideas for the next generation of Potters and Weasleys. And Malfoys.

Innyhoodle, here is teh fluff! Enjoy!

**Meeting Teddy**

The house was dark and quiet, and all was still behind closed curtains. The home's residents were probably already asleep because of the late hour, but that didn't stop the dark-robed boy from approaching.

Harry Potter lingered outside the front gate in a rare moment of solitude. It seemed as though he had been constantly congratulated and thanked after defeating Voldemort. It was strange to think that it had all ended only a week ago. The time spend afterwards was usually split between being interviewed or attending the funerals of some of his closest friends, so Harry found himself cherishing this rare moment of peace.

But now he had something he needed to do.

Earlier that day he had attended the memorial service for Remus and Nymphadora Lupin. All of the surviving members of the Order of the Phoenix were there: Arthur, Molly, Charlie, George, Ron, and Ginny Weasley; Bill and Fleur; Kingsley, looking intimidating in the robes of the Minister of Magic; Professors McGonagall, Sprout, and Flitwick; students of Hogwarts, including Hermione, Neville, Luna, Dean, and Seamus; and many others. The large turnout deeply touched Harry, as did the service itself, but the hardest thing was meeting little Teddy Lupin for the first time.

Tonks's mother, Andromeda, had brought him, but she stayed in the back of the black-filled room for the majority of the service, her face covered in a thin veil of mourning. She had, after all, lost a husband, daughter, and son-in-law in a matter of months; all she had left was the little bundle in her arms.

Harry had been staring at an old photo of Lupin in his Hogwarts days when she walked up beside him. He jumped slightly and wiped his eyes, for he had been silently crying, but Andromeda just smiled kindly at him.

"It's all right, dear. Don't wipe your tears for me. Merlin knows I've shed enough myself to not judge another," she said softly. Harry returned her smile weakly and only then realized that she was not holding the baby.

"Where's Teddy?" he asked. Andromeda glanced up from Lupin and Tonks's wedding portrait, in which both were grinning and waving so much that it was hard to forget there had been a war going on at the time.

"He fell asleep, and Molly agreed to hold him for a bit so I could... well..."

"Be alone?" Harry offered.

"Something like that," Andromeda said. She sighed and reached a hand out to caress her daughter's face in the wedding picture. "It's funny. I never thought that I would outlive my own daughter."

They stood together in silence then, each remembering.

"Well," Andromeda finally said, "you should come over and meet Teddy sometime soon. You _are_ his godfather."

"Yeah," Harry said. "I would like that." Andromeda smiled again, and it reminded him of Tonks; he looked away quickly.

"You know where we live. I'm almost always home, so you can just drop in," Andromeda said, then she leaned in and grabbed Harry into a tight hug. She kissed his cheek as she pulled away, and there were tears in her eyes. "I never did get to thank you for what you did. It sounds awkward, to just say thank you for defeating the most evil wizard in history, but there you are. Don't forget to come visit."

And with that she had taken one last look at the wedding picture, then moved away into the crowd, a silent black shadow.

So now Harry was here, outside her house in the dead of night, waiting to walk up the path and knock on the door and meet his godson.

The gate opened noiselessly and there were no leaves to step on or even owls hooting in the darkness, so when Harry did finally make it to the door, his light raps sounded like bombs going off in the silence. A light turned on in a window to his far left and he heard soft footsteps coming, then the door opened to reveal a (thankfully) fully-dressed Andromeda, her eyes wide with surprise.

"Harry! What can I do for you?" she asked.

"I came to see Teddy," Harry said, feeling rather foolish now. Why had he thought it would be a good idea to come in the middle of the night?

"Well your timing couldn't be more perfect," Andromeda said, stepping aside to let him enter. "He just woke himself up and now I can't get him to go back to sleep. May I take your cloak?" Harry shrugged out of his travelling cloak and removed his trainers, then followed Andromeda through the hall toward the room where he had seen the light turn on. The light blue and white wallpaper and the crib in the corner told him that it was the nursery.

Andromeda walked straight for the crib, talking softly to the baby inside, but Harry stayed at the threshold, unsure of whether or not he should enter.

"Come on in," Andromeda called, and his question was answered for him. She had lifted Teddy from the crib and was bouncing him in her arms now.

"Look, Teddy," she cooed. "This is your godfather Harry! He was close to your daddy. Remember Daddy?" At the word "daddy," Teddy giggled, and Andromeda smiled sadly up at Harry. "He adored Remus," she explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if 'daddy' turns out to be his first word, even without..." She trailed off and looked back down at the baby in her arms, her long hair hiding her face. Harry was about to say he was sorry when she suddenly looked up, smiling again. "Would you like to hold him?"

"Er... may I?" he asked uncertainly. Andromeda laughed pleasantly.

"But of course! Here, now, mind his head," she said, carefully transferring Teddy into Harry's outstretched arms.

Teddy was lighter than Harry had thought he would be, and cuter than he could even have imagined. His soft wisps of color-changing hair were a dark blue tonight, but it was his eyes that made Harry stare: they were Lupin's eyes, all hazel and wide and curious, probably wondering who this stranger holding him was.

"Hi, Teddy. I'm Harry, and I'm your godfather," Harry said, smiling at the child, and Teddy smiled back up at him. Harry swallowed down threatening tears and continued, barely glancing up as Andromeda slipped from the room respectfully. "Like your grandmother said, I was close friends with your daddy, Remus Lupin. Actually," he corrected with a grin, "he was close friends with _my_ daddy." Teddy giggled at the word daddy again, but never stopped staring at Harry with those big hazel eyes. "Your daddy was a great man, and no matter what he thought or what he said, you would have been - _will_ be - very proud of him."

Harry paused and looked around, then spotted a rocking chair in the corner. He moved over and sat down, minding Teddy, but the baby seemed to only barely notice as Harry began to slowly rock back and forth.

"Your mum," he continued, "is where you get your powers as a Metamorphmagus. And I can already tell that you have some of her spunk, too. Tonks was an incredible witch and an incredible woman." He stopped, trying to control his resurfacing grief, then forced himself to smile. "Let's just hope you didn't get her coordination, too, okay?" Teddy chuckled again in response to Harry's smile, but Harry liked to think that he was actually listening and absorbing everything that was said.

"What else?" he asked absently, just content to rock for now. "Hm... maybe when you get older and start attending Hogwarts I can pass on the Marauder's Map to you. After all, you are the son of one of the original makers. And I'll also teach you cool Auror spells and stuff that your mum taught me, so you get knowledge from both sides, all right? Oh! I almost forgot!"

Harry dug into his right pocket and pulled out his wand, then pointed it at the partially-opened door and said, "_Accio cloak!_"

Within moments his travelling cloak came soaring neatly through the doorway to hang in the air before him. Harry stowed his wand again and began to rummage in the pockets of the cloak, still holding Teddy in the crook of his left arm.

"A-ha!" He finally pulled out what he had been looking for and held it before Teddy's face so the baby could see.

It was a small gray wolf.

"I know this is really cliché and all," Harry said, smiling as Teddy reached chubby arms up for the stuffed animal, "but I figured you could have it to remember your da." Teddy hugged the wolf to his chest and buried his nose in the soft fur and made an almost inaudible little noise.

Harry blinked. He could have sworn...

"What did you say, Teddy?"

And Teddy repeated it, louder this time, his hazel eyes shining with pride.

"Da."

-----

When Andromeda returned to the nursery about ten minutes after she saw the cloak fly in from the closet, it was completely silent. She peeked around the doorway and smiled.

Harry was still sitting in the rocking chair, cradling Teddy in one arm. The baby, in turn, was cradling a small stuffed wolf to his chest.

Both godfather and godson were fast asleep.

-----

**_Author's Note: _**Comments are love, people! Thank you for reading!


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